I just put in all my measurements (taken using sewing tape) and it spat out 12% bodyfat for me.

I am gonna try and post a pic for everyone to see. There is no way I am even under 20% imo - I can pinch nearly 2 inches of fat off my belly and a good inch all over the rest of my body - even my biceps. It's ridiculous. I feel like I wasted like 30 mins taking measurements...

I am 5'8" and 186.5lbs this morning. I *squeeze* into a size 33 pant now (although I feel I need to grease it up over my thighs). I wore size 27 pants in university. I was 160lbs back then. With larger arms, bigger chest and at 160lbs I still didnt have abs.

I manage to carry my fat well. I dont look so bad in these pics. So I tried to snap a second pic in each position showing the fat layer all over my body. It still kinda looks like I am just complaining. Hmmm. Still. There is no way I am even close to 12%. I mean, guys like jtchen and john stone are down around 12%. Me, I look bloated and full of water.

I am not searching for compliments here, if I wanted that I'd talk to my mom. I have just gone from 208lbs to 186.5lbs. I definitely was a lot fatter. But I still FEEL fat. My knees and back still tell me I weigh far too much. And, I am really weak compared to my old self. Although I have a LOT more energy now then I did just a few months back. I still feel I need to lose a lot more weight.

I feel mybodycomp.com transposed the numbers, I should be around 21% bf. Here are the pictures, please excuse the crooked underwear, I just tossed them on after my bike ride today :)

oh and one more thing to add - I used a tanita scale when I was in japan and it gave a 34% bodyfat figure. That was only a little over a month ago.

I would say low 20s is probably where are. If you are 20% that would translate to about 148lbs of LBM. You would look really really really burly if you had 148lbs of LBM and 8ish %BF on a 5'8" fram. 23% puts you at 142.5ish lbs LBM... this is probably a more realistic number but still high. Even that is a lot of LBM for a 5'8" frame (same height as me). The picture in my avatar is me at 144 lbs at 8ish % BF ( so about 133-134 lbs LBM) to give you an idea of someone your height.

Long way to say it, but my guess is 23-28% judging from pic and rough LBM calculations.

i'm not the best at it but I average between mybodycomp, calibers, and Health Central (http://www.healthcentral.com/cooltools/CT_Fitness/bodyfat1.cfm) .

BF is so difficult to get right so you kinda give it a best guess based on averages, those three put me at about 26% right now.

The best way is Hydrostatic (http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/calculatebodyfat.html) testing and thats expensive.

im in the same boat as you - im 6'3" and about 195lbs and i can still grab inches of fat like you can all around my body, especially in the spare tire area. definitely still have a big gut too

the difference im finding, is that the fat is a lot tighter to the body, not as jiggly. sure its there, but its going VERY VERY slowly. I dont think you're as high as 21% because it looks like you just have a layer of fat over a bunch of muscle ;) i think you're probably closer to 16-18%

good luck getting rid of the excess. I'm sure its going to take a while for both of us, but it'll be worth it!

That hunk of skin you have in your hand is fat. My guess in low 20's. No, I have yet to see a mybodycomp that is close to accurate, IMO. Go to a univerity or gym and get a good calipher measure.

Are you working out with weights? That is a big answer for lack of muscle.

No, I haven't managed to actually implement my weight routine yet. I got my home gym equipment yesterday and put it together, only to find out the cage is missing two brackets to hold it together (grr).

I have been riding my exercise bike every morning before breakfast for 45mins and eating a lot cleaner and more often. This and playing squash about twice a week has been my only exercise - unless yardwork/housework count :)

My proposed workout routine for the next month or so:
http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=9210

deafNgari - hahaha, I only dream about getting as ripped as your avatar! I think I store a lot of muscle in my thighs. They are honestly just over 25" each. Even when I was in university (I was so poor I could only afford to buy whole chickens, rice, black beans, eggs and canned veggies so my diet was really basic and I played basketball for a couple hours after classes each day, I dropped a ton of weight), they were 24" - thats why the rugby guys made me join up. So I think while I maybe have a fair amount of lean body mass, my upper body is sorely lacking.

I'll be buying calipers from the sports medicine store tomorrow. I'll play with those and post results. I want to track my progress over the next few months..

heh I am just thinking about the mybodycomp 12% bodyfat thing - that puts me at 165lbs of lean body mass... I'd be HUGE... too funny.

I fooled around with mybodycomp a couple weeks ago and got a 16% reading (5'11" 160lbs). After about 9 months of regular lifting, semi-regular clean eating, and irregular cardio it seemed about right. When I look at myself, I try to convince myself that I'm around 12-14, and I think I look fine with clothes ON, it's just the love handle fat won't melt away until I dedicate myself more to the diet part of things. After the mybodycomp I was a little surprised because I thought I would be lower but then I tried a scale which put me dead-on at 16% also. They both may be wrong but more likely I'm in that range. Calipers are an option but I'm going by appearance and how I feel because I know I'd get too obsessive about calculating BFP. I already had to put away my scale because I would weigh myself OCD-like (I lost about 30 lbs 3 years ago and have managed to keep it off). A happy medium is what I'm aiming for, which is sacreligious with the talk of goals, goals, goals, but I simply love eating too much to cut out what I love to eat except for one cheat meal a week. Good luck!

You are in the 16-20% bracket.

I had a caliper reading done yesterday -- 16.8%. I just did the mybodycomp.com thing and it says 16.9%. Pretty darn close for me!

I find that mybodycomp.com agrees very closely with what I get from my FatTrack II digital calipers.

With the calipers, I take 5 measurements minimum, throw out the high and the low, and average the rest.

Mybodycomp.com and the caliper readings are nearly always within 1% of each other. Whether that means that either are accurate, I'm not sure.

Two weeks ago, immediately prior to my surgery for an umbilical hernia, I got 7% from the website, and 8% from the calipers. Both seem low to me, at least comparing to what I've seen from others on this site.

Hmmm, I picked up some calipers yesterday. While I am not claiming to be an expert at using them, I am consistently getting close to 23% bodyfat, nearly 24%.

I think mybodycomp may have an average build or bodytype it works well with? I am rather short and stocky - my arms are 15", neck is 16", waist is 32.5, thighs are 25", chest is at 41". And I haven't worked out for nearly 6 years. I have a fairly even layer of fat all over my body. I know, once I start to lose more weight, my arms will get smaller (down to 14" at least, which is where I was in university).